Now that it's really happening for you, what with THE HOBBIT coming along, you've taken the opportunity to map out this plan, this master list of projects that you want to make. It's very ambitious and, seemingly, very time consuming. How will you be able to integrate all of this work with whatever it is you're going to do for Cha Cha Cha?

Del Toro: That's a very good question, and the reality is very different than the theory. In theory, all of these things are happening at the same time. When you announce them, people say, "Oh, my god, he is doing all of these things!" But in reality, they're not all happening at the same time. In Cha Cha Cha, we are launching our first production in December in Mexico. It's going to open theatrically. And at the same time, two weeks ago, Alejandro [González Iñárritu] started shooting his new feature [BIUTIFUL], which we are producing. Alfonso [Cuaron] is writing his feature for Cha Cha Cha. He's going to start shooting soon enough, but I can't announce it until he allows me. And I have my own feature for Cha Cha Cha, which I cannot announce until they allow me to. But they're not happening at the same time. I don't want to shoot my feature until after THE HOBBIT. Alejandro will be in postproduction when I'm doing preproduction on THE HOBBIT. But I will still have time to go to his opening. So all of these things can be concurrent and be manageable as long as you work ten hours a day. (Laughs) Which I do.

Mi Amigo Alfonso CuarónAlejandro González Iñárritu is a film director who has directed films such as "Amores Perros" (2000), "21 Grams" (2003) and "Biutiful" (2010). This was first published in "El Pais," the Spanish daily.

Matt Donnelly wrote:There’s a saying that you can’t put a price on greatness, but if you could, it might be around $165 million, or about much as Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu‘s upcoming revenge drama “The Revenant” is now believed to cost. The ambitious drama has had its original budget soar from $95 million, multiple individuals with knowledge of the production have told TheWrap.

The final bill, once tax credits are counted, is estimated to be $135 million, multiple individuals told TheWrap.

“It was very difficult production,” said one of the individuals. “We were really biting off a lot more than we could chew. The movie just kept getting bigger and bigger, more complicated, the weather — waiting for the light to be a certain way.”

“New Regency stands by the decisions we made. The work speaks for itself,” said a spokesperson for New Regency.

The initial cost continued to climb at every turn, according to insiders close to the production. The decision to shoot the movie sequentially to capture the seasons in order led to a significant budget commitment, as did the choice to shoot with only natural light by award-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki.

But the production then went into an unplanned six-week hiatus because of a crushing lack of snow in Canada.

“We had tremendous weather problems,” said one insider close to the movie. “It was freezing and snowing when it wasn’t meant to be. And when it wasn’t meant to be, it was. It wouldn’t snow. Our movie was really reliant on snow. That was a huge hit.”

The entire production had to move to Argentina from Calgary, Canada in search of snow. The six-day shoot in Patagonia in August cost an unplanned $10 million, according to one production insider. “That was an extremely big hit financially,” the insider said.

During the hiatus, veteran producer Mary Parent was asked to join the production to get the project back on schedule.Another insider said that Milchan declined to rein in his star director.

“I don’t think the studio put in stopgaps to keep the costs down,” the individual said, such as declining to reshoot scenes multiple times. “There were a lot of indulgences he got that could’ve been a ‘no.’ Alejandro is a little bit like a child. He tests the parameters all the time. When you don’t say ‘no,’ he takes advantage.”

At stake is a likely Oscar run. If the film were to win Best Picture, it would secure Milchan his first Academy Award statuette.